100% of Medicare enrollees age 65-99 who died during the measurement year with full Part A entitlement and no HMO enrollment during the measurement period. Age, gender, race, and eligibility are determined using the Denominator file.

NUMERATOR DEFINITION:

Any days spent in hospital during terminal hospitalization (discharge status=’B’ in MedPAR file). ICU days are determined by the following indicators in the MedPAR claim: ICARECNT (intensive care day count), CRNRYDAY (coronary care day count).

ADJUSTMENTS:

Rates are adjusted for age, sex and race using the indirect method, using the U.S. Medicare decedent population as the standard. Gender-specific rates are age and race adjusted; race-specific rates are age and sex adjusted.

The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care is based at The Dartmouth Institute for Health
Policy and Clinical Practice and is supported by a coalition of funders led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
including the WellPoint Foundation, the United Health Foundation, the California HealthCare Foundation, and the Charles H. Hood Foundation.